


Pollution

by 1DE3shipper



Series: 100 Writing Prompts [65]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 13:51:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1552724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1DE3shipper/pseuds/1DE3shipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"This is just disturbing, man," Zayn shook his head as he walked through the park with his boyfriend.  "You'd think people have more respect than that."  Everywhere they looked, empty cans, stray newspapers, and old fast food containers cluttered the once-clean area.  "Especially when there are bins, what, every ten feet?  I mean, come on."</p>
<p>"So do something about it."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pollution

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first attempt at writing a long one, but I'm not a huge fan of it and it didn't even turn out to be that long. I am pretty proud of the newspaper entry, though. Let me know what you think!

"This is just disturbing, man," Zayn shook his head as he walked through the park with his boyfriend. "You'd think people have more respect than that." Everywhere they looked, empty cans, stray newspapers, and old fast food containers cluttered the once-clean area. "Especially when there are bins, what, every ten feet? I mean, come on."

"So do something about it," Liam suggested.

"What?"

"You heard me. Do something about it. Make a change, you know? You can't fix all of it but you can at least make it better."

"Yeah," Zayn thought about it. "You're right. I have an idea. I'm gonna need help, though."

Liam smiled. "Whatever you need, love."  
-  
"Why the fuck do WE have to help?" Louis complained for the tenth time in as many minutes. Zayn had enlisted the assistance of Louis, Harry, and Niall as well as Liam (who had volunteered without complaint, unlike the other three) in his quest to clean the local park.

"Because," Liam said simply, "you're Zayn's friends and he wants you to. Plus, you know that if you don't help him and he gets upset, I'll break you're face." He sends his boyfriend a wink which is answered with a blush from the raven-haired boy. Louis muttered something along the lines of "I'll break you, Payne" but that was the last of the debate.

"What are we actually doing?" Harry asked.

"Simple really," Zayn explained. "There's trash everywhere. There are bins everywhere with no trash in them. Get my drift?"

Harry nodded. "Easy enough."

"It really is. And you just have to get the big stuff that you can pick up easily. Oh, and wear these," he pulled out five pairs of rubber gloves. "More sanitary." Each boy took a pair and split up to cover more area. It took a few hours of work in the warm late-September sun, but they managed to clean a decent portion of the park.

"We should do this again," Harry suggested. "Like, every week maybe."

"That sounds awesome!" Zayn exclaimed. "That way, it'll stay clean." Louis groaned in protest but Niall and Liam agreed with the other two and he was blatantly outnumbered. 

"C'mon lads," Liam motioned. "Lets get something to eat." Now this they could all agree on and the set off for a local pizza place, Niall's favorite (and he was, of course, the food expert).  
-  
They started going every week, even when the weather turned colder and the leaves started to fall. After the first snow, they decided to call it quits until spring since no one really went to the park in winter anyways. Come March, though, they went right back to work.

It didn't take long for them to get noticed. At first it was just people walking in the park who would thank them. Halfway through May, they were stopped by a young man, probably mid-twenties, who introduced himself as Nick Grimshaw. Apparently, the local newspaper had received word of what the boys were doing and wanted to write an article about them.

"Would you be interested?" Nick asked.

"Of course!" Louis responded immediately.

"Wait a minute," Liam interrupted. "This was Zayn's idea; he gets to decide." All focus turned to the darker boy who thought for a minute longer before responding, "Why not?" and it was decided.  
-  
The article was printed two weeks later and they gathered at the pizza place to read it together after one of their weekly clean up sessions. Louis opened to the page and started, " _For the last few months, Newman park has looked cleaner than it has ever been and this is all thanks to a group of teenage boys. Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson began giving up part of their Saturdays last fall when they noticed that the park was looking less than stellar. "It was Zayn's idea," says Payne, 17. "We were just walking one day and he was going on about how the place looked disgusting so I told him to do something about it." Needless to say, they've done something about it. "It's actually a lot of fun," admits Horan, 17. "The five of us get to spend some time together to make a difference. Plus, we always get pizza after!" "It’s a lot of work but also really rewarding," agrees Tomlinson, 18. Pizza and community service? Where can the rest of us get in on this? "If we could get more people, we could cover more area," says Styles, 16. "With just the five of us, it would take the whole day to clean all of it so we just do it in sections. I think it would be great if this became sort of a community thing." You heard him, everyone! The boys are there starting at about ten o'clock every Saturday morning with their rubber gloves and you should be, too. Think of how much cleaner we could make Newman if everyone helped out. The boys plan on carrying this project though the summer and into next year, even though Tomlinson will have left for Uni. "I don't see any reason to stop," says Malik, 17, and the founder of the park project. "It's something we all enjoy doing and we're doing something good for the community. All I really wanted was to clean up the park a bit so it looks better and I think we've done a pretty good job of that. This is something that could go on forever though if other people get involved." You heard him: let’s keep the Newman Park Project alive and lend a hand as a community._ "

They were all silent for a moment, still taking in the magnitude of what they had just read. Of course, Niall was the first to break the silence.

"Shit," he whispered. "This is for real." Suddenly, they were a jumbled mess of voices trying to get a word in in their excitement. Liam rested his chin on his boyfriend's shoulder. 

"I'm so proud of you, Zayn. So proud." Zayn just smiled. They had actually made a change and he was pretty damn proud of them, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think!


End file.
